Poll code violation cases do not have logical end
20 to 30 party workers to be assigned to each booth
Cases booked for violations of the election code do not come to any conclusion. They are either dropped if they are against legislators who are elected to the House, or the maximum punishment is imposition of a fine.
In the 2014 election, 9,867 cases were booked for violation of the code, out of which 7,285 cases were for distributing money and liquor and the accused were from all parties since bribing voters in this manner is almost an accepted part of elections in India.
Around 2 lakh litres of liquor, `34.38 crore cash were seized and 198 cases of gold seizure were booked. Nothing more has been heard about these seizures. The department concerned has not been held to account about the liquor, and the money has either been pocketed or swallowed by the government, it is alleged. The most number of such cases in 2014 were registered in Hyderabad. In Goshmahal police limits,`89 lakh were seized by the cops on different dates and two cases were booked. The money was sent to the IT department, but that is all that happened.
In another case, `89.87 lakh were seized from an RTC bus at Bollarum. During checks, police found that Vijayaramana Rao, candidate of the TD was carrying cash from Karimnagar. He said he was going to hand it over to the TD office as it was party funds. A non-cognizable case was booked and the case is still pending.
Taking the forthcoming Telangana assembly elections seriously, the BJP high command has posted poll coordinators for poll management with a view to win many seats. These poll coordinators have arrived from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and from Andhra Pradesh state also.
The BJP high command has appointed two coordinators in each Assembly constituency as poll managers. They will be in their respective Assembly constituencies till the end of the poll scheduled on December 7, 2018.
The BJP high command had recently appointed union health minister J.P. Nadda as the poll manager at the state level. After successfully implementing this system, the BJP high command is following the same system in every state during assembly elections.
These constituency level poll coordinators will focus on attracting voters and coordinate booth-level party committees.
According to sources, the BJP will deploy 20 to 30 dedicated party workers in each booth in order to bring the maximum number of voters to polling booths on polling day. The party leadership feels this strategy would increase the voting percentage to party candidates.
A Telangana BJP senior leader said that these poll managers would coordinate booth-level committees and give direction on how to attract voters to BJP. They concentrate mainly on new voters. They also make door to door visits and explain central government schemes.
BJP leaders said that this booth management system had played a crucial role in the party’s victory in Uttar Pradesh and Tripura assembly elections. The booth level committees will identify party sympathizers and supporters and bring them to polling booths and ensure they vote in favour of party candidates.
The Telangana BJP leader said poll managers had arrived in almost all assembly constituencies and started the work. Sources said that the BJP had identified some strong constituencies and concentrated on these constituencies mainly. In Adilabad, the BJP has identified three constituencies.
In the previous assembly elections, the BJP won 5 seats and all these were from Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts. This time BJP wants to win at least 20 seats.